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Elena* has borne some of the brunt of the housing crisis in London, along with many other students at EFA. Her, her husband and their three children were living in one small bedroom in a shared house with 13 others. The house had been flooded for a week and the landlord was not responding to Elena’s call for repairs.

The children were too scared to use the communal bathroom and kitchen because other tenants would shout and intimidate them. Anti-social shift patterns meant that there was constant noise in the house.

Last term the ESOL students at our St Bernadette class wrote an article for The Crier newsletter. It’s called “ST BERNADETTE’S CATHOLIC JUNIOR SCHOOL OPENS IT’S DOORS FOR PARENTS LEARNING ENGLISH.” Click here to read the article in full. Well done to everyone involved!

I was delighted that 15 different students turned up this term for our class at Henry Cavendish school this term. Not many people in the class knew eachother and since I also didn’t know very many of them either I wanted an activity that would get us all talking. As such, I asked everyone to draw an ‘identity pizza’. An ‘identity pizza’ is basically a circle (or ‘pizza’) divided into segments, each representing different parts of who you are. So often, the first thing teachers ask ESOL students is their name and where they come from. But students may not consider their nationality as something key to their identity or who they really are. Because how students choose to fill their identity pizza is completely open to their own interpretation, they usually end up with a diagram that tells you much more about their interests, dreams and what’s important to them. Learners can write or just draw in each segment so everyone can join in, whatever their level of English.